King

Medium:Acrylic
Height:30 inch / 76.2 cm
Width:24 inch / 61 cm
Surface:Canvas
Style:Figurative Paintings
Dimension:W: 61 cm × H: 76.2 cm
Year:2017

A powerful expressionist portrait by Rabin Mondal featuring a crowned, king-like figure set against a vivid red background. With rich textures, bold tones, and a commanding gaze, the painting reflects strength, heritage, and timeless dignity through the artist’s distinctive visual language.

Description

Rabin Mondal | Untitled | Acrylic on Canvas | 30 x 24 inches | 2017

This compelling portrait by Rabin Mondal portrays a king-like figure whose presence is both powerful and deeply reflective. Crowned with a radiant golden headpiece and set against a bold crimson background, the subject appears as a symbol of authority, resilience, and timeless wisdom. His steady gaze and strong facial structure create an immediate emotional connection, drawing the viewer into a world of silence, dignity, and inner strength.

The painting is rich with textured brushwork and layered tones of black, silver, gold, and red, giving the figure a sculptural and almost monumental quality. The elongated face, bold beard, and subtle detailing in the ornaments and attire reflect the artist’s signature expressionist language — where form becomes a vessel for emotion rather than realism. The crown itself adds a ceremonial and spiritual aura, suggesting leadership rooted in heritage and memory.

Rabin Mondal transforms this portrait into more than just an image of a man; it becomes a reflection on identity, power, and the enduring human spirit. The work carries a quiet intensity, making it a striking statement piece that speaks of both personal and collective history.

Rabin Mondal was inspired by primitive and tribal art, its potent simplifications and raw energy.
The son of a mechanical draughtsman, Rabin Mondal took to drawing and painting at the age of twelve when he injured his knee and was confined to bed.
The Bengal famine of 1943 and the Calcutta communal riots of 1946 deeply impacted his psyche; he joined the Communist Party and became an activist. Mondal’s final refuge was art as the ultimate weapon of protest.
Mondal’s figuration derived from a growing abhorrence towards mankind’s moral decay in all spheres of life. The cubo-futuristic angularities of forms within the pictorial space arranged around them evolved into a series of paintings depicting highly distinct human figures that struggled to live a hero’s life in a mocking but tragic world.
Mondal’s images have a deeply felt iconic appearance. The series Queen, King, Man represent figures that are static, totemic, tragicomic, ruthlessly shattered and ruined. Having subverted the classical canons of harmony and beauty, Mondal evolved a vocabulary to express his anguish and rage towards decadence in society. The expressionistic use of splattered colours and the bold application of black are part of that vocabulary.
Beginning his career as an art teacher, with a stint as an art director in films, he was a founder member of Calcutta Painters in 1964, and from 1979-83 a general council member of Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi. He passed away in Kolkata on 2 July 2019.

Shipment DetailsThis artwork will be shipped unframed, either in roll form or flat, depending on its requirements—at no additional cost.

If you’d prefer the artwork to arrive ready to hang, please get in touch with us to arrange framing and shipping at applicable charges.

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